Anything You Need
by norearviewmirrors
Summary: "Were you sleeping?" he asked, scared he had bothered her, but what did that even matter when he had ruined everything. "No" she whispered, knowing he could hear her "I don't really do a lot of that anymore" she mumbled, not wanting to lie to him any more.


Elena sat in her living room, the empty house reminding her of how alone she really was every time she heard a small noise around the house, a crack from the floor, or a gust of wind from the window closing a door. She missed Stefan so much; he had been released from Klaus' compulsion. So where was he? He was supposed to be free, so why wasn't he with her, holding her, and protecting her from the darkness that surrounded her. Instead he was out for vengeance, and she didn't understand why. Tears began to form, to him she was no more than a human blood bag, a form of leverage he had over Klaus and that was all. But he was so much more than that to her, he wasn't just her warrior, he was her home, where he was, was where she belonged, and there was no way to train her heart to think differently.

It was around 10 pm, and the night seem to be dragging on, she walked upstairs to her room, and opened her closet, kneeling down, and tossing around her shoes, she looked for the shoebox she kept underneath everything else, once she found it, she brought it to her bed, holding the brown box that though it held such light things, had felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds of memories. She took the lid off and stared at all the pieces of her life she was supposed to throw away, picking up one item each, she thought about her life.

First she picked up a picture of her element school graduation, her and all her friends surrounding her, Vicki standing between Matt and Jeremy, and Tyler's dad behind them all on the phone, not paying attention to his son as usual. Elena thought about how greatly all her friends' life had changed since then, how Matt's mom left to never return, and Vicki's death, and Caroline becoming a vampire, even Bonnie had lost her grams-her only family tie to her magic.

Then she picked up a picture of her parents, holding each other on the dock of their lake house. She thought of how bad she missed them, and how they wouldn't be around to see anymore of her life achievements. How her father would never walk her down the aisle at her wedding, or how her mom would never see Elena have children and help spoil them. She saw a small picture of Jeremy and Aunt Jenna when Jer was a freshman, and she felt a sudden pang in her heart, knowing this wasn't the life he was supposed to live, he was supposed to grow up, and play sports, and be happy. Looking at her aunt was difficult; she was so beautiful and young, so full of life, and love.

Thoughts ran through her mind at the speed of sound, all these people, she had destined them all to the life they now led, her, being the doppelganger, had cursed everyone she loved. Leaving all the pictures she had seen already outside of the box, she looked to see what was left. It was a memory box of her and Stefan, that was the original purpose of the box as well, but after he left, she put some pictures over their pictures in case anyone ever found the box.

The pictures of her and Stefan filled the last ¾'s of the box, them at the floodlight football game, playing games, holding each other, going to the lake house, their silhouettes on the dock in front of the sunset. She had to look away, so she turned her head, finding herself looking into her closet, and suddenly, she found something, something that sent her farther into her nostalgia than she thought she could tonight, the found the teddy bear Stefan had won her the night of the fair. Elena's tears fell harder, faster, and her sobs broke though as if she couldn't have let them go until now that she was sure that she was alone. As she cried, she put all the pictures back in the box trying not to look at any of the subjects' faces, or reading into the things that were happening when the photo was taken.

She put the shoebox back into the closet, and took out the bear, turning off her lamp, and bringing it to bed with her, crying into it.

She heard a shy knock on her door about 10 minutes after. When she answered the door, it was obvious that she was trying to contain herself, trying to control her emotions and keep her tears at bay at least until whoever was there, left. She opened the door, and looked up, eyes puffy and glossy, and her body gently shaking, and then she recognized him, and it was Stefan. "Can I come in" was all he said, his eyes glared at the ground, as if he was trying to compel himself into not looking at her, his hands were in his pockets and his body was slightly hunched towards his shoulders

"yes" was all she gave him, not allowing herself to speak anymore, in fear she would start to ramble, and it would chase him away. He dropped himself onto one of her couches, one of his hands rubbing both eyes with his index finger and thumb, partly to keep his eyes wanted to run, to cry, to break, and it was all she could do not to. "Were you sleeping?" he asked, scared he had bothered her, but what did that even matter when he had ruined everything. "No" she whispered, knowing he could hear her "I don't really do a lot of that anymore" she mumbled, not wanting to lie to him anymore.

"Do you mind if we go up to my room?" she asked soflty, "It's a bit cold down here" all Stefan wanted to do was hold her and keep her warm, but he knew he couldn't, so he just followed her up her stairs like he had so many times before.

When they got up there, Elena slipped on a sweater, and looked back at Stefan who was staring at her beauty, trying to memorize her. When their eyes locked, he seemed scared, like he didn't know was to do, so she walked to her window and stared out of it. "Why did you come" she asked, trying to be calm, and make it sound as if she didn't need an answer, but was making small talk for his benefit.

"I don't actually know" he mumbled, "I just kind of ended up here when I was driving around."  
"hmm" was all she could respond in, as she allowed her mind to wonder what it all meant.

"How can you do it Elena?" he asked her, his voice seemed somewhere between grateful and angry, but Elena kept looking through the window in front of her. Noticing how hard she was concentrating on looking out the window and Stefan was instantly standing behind her

"How can you look at me, and still see the man you saw last year?"  
"Because I love you" she whispered, so low, she was surprised he even heard her.  
"that can't be it" he said "after everything I did to you, how can you still care?"

When Elena didn't answer, Stefan turned his head a bit, and from the corner of his eye, saw the teddy bear, and a sadness grew inside him knowing her answer was completely truthful.

Then the anger in his voice was back, "how Elena, how do you still feel the same? How can you tell me you love me when I've killed so many people, I've hurt so many people?"

All Elena wanted in this very moment was to turn around and kiss him and hold him and profess her love for him. But knowing she couldn't, her eyes got glossy, as if she was going to break again. She couldn't speak without giving it away. So without words, she wrapped her arms around her chest, trying to physically keep herself together showing him that it hadn't been easy, but she never stopped loving him, and Stefan noticed.

"Elena" he said softly. "I just need to know how you still love me, because I don't deserve it, everything I've done is proof of that."

Elena cut him off there "not everything you've done Stefan" she mumbled, "you saved me last year, you could have let me drown with my parents but you didn't, you saved me"

Stefan was speachless, in a whisper, he spoke "how is it possible that you can still think that way? Havent you realized that from the day I met you it's been you've been saving me? I don't understand, how I hurt you so much, but you can still love me, you can remind me with just being near me, what I am." He slid his hands over her arms that wrapped around her body, holding her together like he used to.

"and what is that Stefan, what are you?" she asked in a hush

Sliding his head into the crevice of her neck he whispered a soft "I'm anything you need, I'm forever and always yours" and the tears that had threated Elena since he'd got there fell, and she turned around, facing his tearstained face. As she leaned in to kiss his lips, as she had dreamed so many times, she stopped herself, pulling away not enough to stop feeling his breath on her, but enough for him to know she needed to say something. "if I kiss you now, you have to promise you'll never leave me again, you'll never let me go"

"I wont Elena" he responded but it wasn't enough

"promise me Stefan" it was less of a sentence than a worded breath over his open mouth. She knew what she did to him, if everything was changing around them, she knew that the way they effected eachother would remain constant.

He whispered the words to her as if they were a new language only she and him knew, and they could hide under these words in the darkest of storms, "I promise you Elena, I'll never let you go, you'll have to pry me away from you and kill me, I swear it with every part of my heart"

"good" was all she could say, because his words had taken her breath away, and she pulled him in for the kiss they had both been waiting for for far to long.


End file.
